First Container Home in New Orleans

This home was designed by the Toronto-based maker of prefab homes, MekaWorld, and is the first container home in New Orleans. It is made up of two shipping containers and has a net living area of 640 square feet. Despite the relatively small size of this one-bedroom home, it is partitioned into a very spacious dwelling.

The New Orleans home is based on the VOR_640 plan by MekaWorld, and is a 2 x 40 ft high cube with total dimensions of 16 feet x 40 feet x 9′-6″ high (10′-0″ top of roof structure). The roof is comprised of epdm rubber sheathing with galvanized flashing and sloped polyiso board. The house is insulated with sealform panels, while the entry doors are double glazed, thermally broken with insulated glazed unit (igu’s). The interior walls are insulated with sealform non moisture panels and finished with non-VOC lustre white paint.

All the lighting in the house includes UL approved low voltage halogen shallow recessed spotlights, with fluorescent undercounter lighting in the kitchen, track lighting for the living room and bedroom, and recessed low volatge halogen lighting for bathroom wet areas. Exterior lighting is encased in recycled aluminum cage light sconces.

The home also has large windows installed on each side, some of them floor-to-ceiling and front-to-back, which lets plenty of natural light into the house. The windows and sliding doors are double glazed, thermally broken and encased in vinyl frames. Floors are finished in bamboo, which is a very sustainable source of wood. The house is also designed to withstand winds of up to 130 MPH.

The structure was delivered to the building location already partially assembled, while the homeowner finished the home on site. The planning process took over a year, but in the end the shipping container home was well received by the community and neighborhood in general.

At first glance, the home does not look like it is made from shipping containers, due to the decorative external wood finish. All MekaWorld designs also include the option to add solar PV, green roof, rubber tight roof and decking installations, though the company itself does not install them.